A case for long-term achievements

Matthew

The monthly contest post referencing Liliana got me thinking. If Oktagon can track this kind of data, then it should be possible to implement week-long or month-long challenges. This idea has been brought up before, and I think it still has plenty of merit, especially given how engaged this community is.

It would give people something to do when the events are sparse, and it would also drive up the login rates that apps track as a way to gauge their relative popularity. There are also a ton of different ways to present such a challenge. You can set goals for individuals, coalitions, and the community at large across whatever sort of timespan you can think of: daily, weekly, and monthly goals are all worth pursuing. I used to be really involved in Halo on Xbox, and what ended up really getting me hooked was an achievement system just like this. It gave me a reason to login and play every day because of the dailies, and also consistently over time because of the longer-term weekly and monthly goals.

Given the overall complexity of Magic as a game, there are an infinite number of possibilities for how to structure goals like this. Releasing a new set? Give us a goal to shoot for that requires us to use new mechanics a set number of times over a given timespan. That would encourage the purchase of new cards as we try to obtain cards that use the specified mechanic, which would also drive up sales (which we all know is the point of any game). Got new Planeswalkers you want us to try out? Set goals that track their usage and leveling statistics. Again, this will encourage people to purchase and use them.

The one thing I would say you NEED to keep in mind is that the rewards need to be worth it. Don’t “reward” the long-term investment of our personal time with a paltry payout. It better be something good. After all, our pursuit of these goals only serve to help your app succeed and do better. The least you can do is also make it worth our time.

What do you guys think about this?

madwren

Thumbs up, sir.

I've often felt it would be great to have some sort of daily/weekly/monthly quest system.

Unknown

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GrizzoMtGPQ

Isn’t leveling your walker a long term achievement?

UweTellkampf

GrizzoMtGPQ said:

Isn’t leveling your walker a long term achievement?

Yes but it’s boring as ****

NickBKK

What a great idea!
I’m just thinking out loud here. If technically possible, creative weekly objectives and reward tiers (top 5, all the way to top 10,000) will be very fun.

For example:
Zombies hunter: for killing the most zombies
Mother of Dragon: for casting the most dragons
Token (of) Appreciation: for casting the most amount of tokens
Spellbound: for casting the most spells
Feeling Blue: playing most matches with blue PW’s

This can be measured as a personal reward, or as coalitions, with specific qualifying events...

I can go on and on...

Brigby

NickBKK said:

...
Mother of Dragon: for casting the most dragons
...

Matthew

@NickBKK

I like the cut of your jib, sir. Those are all awesome ideas!

@Brigby

Your meme game is on point, sir. I hope your "voice of the people" game is also on point though? The devs should hear this idea!

Brigby

Matthew said:

NickBKK

I like the cut of your jib, sir. Those are all awesome ideas!

Brigby

Your meme game is on point, sir. I hope your "voice of the people" game is also on point though? The devs should hear this idea!

Oh I personally agree with the idea of in-game achievements, as I think it'd not only be a fun way to get players more involved in the game, but it could also be another area where players can earn rewards.

If I recall correctly, the idea has been brought up before, however I'm afraid there were simply more pressing matters that needed to be tended to first, so it was placed lower on the to-do list. Certainly still a good idea though!

bk1234

GrizzoMtGPQ said:

Isn’t leveling your walker a long term achievement?

It only takes me around 8 minutes to level my PWs — it would probably take 2, but I record it for MtGPQ.info data. 

Thanks for posting this @Matthew it’s an excellent idea. 

Brakkis

bken1234 said:

GrizzoMtGPQ said:

Isn’t leveling your walker a long term achievement?

It only takes me around 8 minutes to level my PWs — it would probably take 2, but I record it for MtGPQ.info data. 

Thanks for posting this @Matthew it’s an excellent idea. 

Well we can't all be swimming in runes like a certain duck now can we!? 

Kinesia

The duck is played by David Tennant.

James13

Brakkis said:

Well we can't all be swimming in runes like a certain duck now can we!? 

I could, but choose not to take the dive.

Outersider

I don't like the idea of giving a prize for killing or casting the most of something. New players would never have a chance. I'd prefer to see more tangible ideas like. Win 250/500/1000 Training games in a month (If you play daily for the rewards you already will be winning 120+ games ).  Also some long term goals like getting 2000  Color Mastery - like win a Masterpiece of that color... preferably one you don't own).  Achieving these goals should earn you a card you don't own at the minimum. With over 2000 cards in the system it's very difficult for new players to feel like they have a chance against players with large collections to draw from. Thats the biggest complaint I have heard from those I've tried to get into the game. They feel like they have no chance  to build up good decks, so they quit playing.  I've been playing the MTG Arena and like the system of wildcards that allow you to choose the card you want. Lets use those excess runes for something like an exchange for crafting points. Say every 100,000 points gets you 1000 points for booster crafting.  The goals whatever they would be need to be obtainable by everyone, new and old players. 

ElfNeedsFood

I’d like this, but as @Brigby mentioned priorities. I’d rather have fewer bugs than an achievement for entering 100 tickets.  

Kinesia

Some other games (ok, many) have "rotating quests". Not necessarily instead of acheiverments, but you get to work towards each quest until you complete it and once a day (or some other time period) you get a new quest but ONLY if you had space for one.
So there are limits to how you can push the system, but if you have more than one quest you can try and be tricky and meet them at the same time. A miniature mix between Requirements and Acheivements perhaps...